Socket wrench having reinforcing rims spaced from wrench-receiving and nut-receivingsocket walls



Aprll 16, 1957 E. T. ABLE 2, SOCKET WRENCH HAVING REINFORCING RIMSSPACED FROM WRENCH-RECEIVING AND NUT-RECEIVING SOCKET WALLS Filed May16, 1955 INV ENTOR. [aw/9w 777494:-

WA lira/1W0 SOCKET WRENCH HAVING REINFORCING RIMS SPACED. "FROMWRENCH-RECEIVING AND NUT-RECEIVING sooner WALLS Edward T. Able, Denver,Colo, assignorto B. ILSweeney Mfg. Co., Denver, Colo., a corporation ofColorado Application May 16, 1955, Serial No. 508,743

1 Claim. (Cl. 81-121) This invention relates to a socket wrench. Theterm socket Wrench isusually used to designate the combination of aWrench device and a plurality of workreceiving socket members which maybe interchangeably mounted'on thewrench device to accommodate the latterto various sizes and shapes of workpieces. Each of the socket members isprovided at its one extremity with either \a .stud to be received in thewrench device or a socket to receive a stud on the Wrench device. Theother-extremity of each socket device is provided with a work-receivingsocket for receiving the bolt, nut,-or

other device to be rotated by the socket wrench. This invention relatesmore particularly to the latter workreceiv-ing socket.

The work-receiving sockets of the socket members of socket wrenches aresubjected to high stresses, both of a torque type applied to impartrotation to the work, and also of a bending type due to angularmovements of the wrench device tending to urge the socket member out ofaxial alignment with the work and are more particularly accentuated withthe use of power-driven wrench devices of the impact type. Thesestresses quickly result in fracture of the walls of the Work-receivingsocket at the corners of the socket, that is, at the lines ofintersection of the bolt-engaging faces of the socket.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a work-receivingsocket for the socket members of socket wrenches which willsubstantially eliminate fracture of the work-receiving sockets so as toincrease the useful life of the socket.

The above described tendency to fracture has made it necessary to employrelatively thick walls about the workreceiving sockets and'to form thesocket members from relatively soft metal resulting in heavy membersdifiicult to use in close positions and in soft members which arerapidly battered away. With the use of this invention, the walls may bemade relatively thin for use in restricted spaces and of hardwear-resisting metal since the tendency to fracture is substantiallyeliminated.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of theinvention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efiiciency.These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is hadto the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numeralsrefer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout thedescription.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is an end View of the work-receiving extremity of a socket wrenchsocket member, with the invention embodied therein;

Fig. 2 is a side view, partially in section, of the socket member ofFig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the wrench-receiving extremity of the socketmember;

Fig. 4 is an enlargement of the lower right hand portion of the sectionof Fig. 2;

United- States Patent workengaging shape.

Fig. '5 is a similarly enlarged, fragmentary section, taken on the line5-5, Fig. 4 looking'toward an inside corner of the improvedwork-receiving socket; and

Fig. 6 is a similar fragmentary section looking toward the inside cornerof the Work-receiving socket of a conventional socket membertoillustrate thereason for this improvement.

For the purpose of description, the wrench-receiving extremity of thesocket member (Fig. '3) will be designated as the upper extremity andthe work-receiving extremity (Fig. '1) 'Will be designated as. the lowerextremity.

The improved socket member comprises a substantially cylindrical barrel10 which may have any desired size or shape. The barrel illustrated isprovided at its upper extremity with a substantially square Wrenchsocket 11 for receiving the actuating stemof a socket wrench and isprovided atits lower extremity with a work-receiving socket 12. Insomeinstances the wrench socket 11 would be replaced by a stud adapted to bereceived in a socket in the Wrench device. As illustrated, thework-receiving socket 12 is "hexagonal but it couldhave-anyother desiredThe sockets are broachedin the barrel and a relief bore 13 is providedto relieve the breach forming the socket 12. As thus far described, thesocket member is substantially similarto a conventional socket Wrenchsocket'member.

This invention contemplates terminating the workreceiving socket 12:above the bottomof the barrel 10 so that the latter will extend belowthecorners and hexagonal faces of the socket to provide a continuousreinforcement around and below the work-engaging portions of the socket.This is accomplished by forming a continuous annular reinforcing rim 15about the lower extremity of, and concentric with the axis of, thebarrel 10. The reinforcing rim 15 has an internal diameter exceeding thecorner-to-corner diameter of the socket 12 so that a fiat internalshoulder 14 is formed in the barrel at the terminus of the socket 12.The reinforcing rim 15 extends axially beyond and circumferentiallyabout the lower extremity of the socket 12. A similar reinforcing rim 17may be formed about the wrench socket 11 in the upper extremity of thesocket.

In the usual work-receiving socket the relatively sharp corners betweenthe work engaging faces in the socket, such as indicated at C in Fig. 6,extend completely to the lower extremity of the barrel 10 so that whenstresses are applied to the socket, either from torsion movements orfrom side movements of the Wrench, a tensional stress is applied to theexposed extremity of the sharp corner, as indicated by the force arrowsF-F in Fig. 6, tending to rend or tear the metal of the lowerextremitiesof the corners of the sockets so that the metal separates to form afracture extending lengthwise from the lower extremity of the corner asindicated at A in said figure.

In the conventional socket there is no metal below the load to resistthe initiation of the fracture. In the improved socket, however, thereinforcing rim 15 places the termini of the sharp corners of thesocket, indicated at C, Fig. 5, above the reinforcing rim 15 and thelatter forms a relatively heavy metallic section below the load, asindicated by the heavy hatching in Fig. 4, so as to resist theinitiation of a fracture at the lower terminus of the sharp corner. Inother words, the reinforcing rim l5 acts to move the point of load backinto the metal of the barrel 10, as indicated at B Fig. 5, and providemetal beyond the point of load, as indicated at T, to absorb thestresses caused by both side loading of the socket and torsion strainson the socket, as indicated by the force arrows F'-F' in Fig. 5.

Socket members constructed in uniformly doubled, and in some casestripled,

3 the actual carrying capacity before fracture, and as a result allowthe sockets to be made with thinner-walls and harder metal.

A simple explanation as to the surprising results obtained may be had bycomparison with a sheet of paper. It is easy to tear a sheet of paper byapplying tensional stresses to the edge of the sheet. The edge separatesand the tear travels inwardly. It is exceedingly difiicult to tear asheet of paper if the tear must be initiated within the edge of thesheet, or, in other words, by applying opposite forces at a point spacedinwardly from the edge of the sheet. It will be found that that portionof the sheet which extends beyond the application of the forces preventsrending or separation of the fibers so that a tear cannot be initiated.This is exactly the condition encountered with the improved wrenchsocket. A tear or crack cannot start at the lower extremity of a cornersince the extremity is spaced inwardly from the edge of the socket thethickness of the rim 15.

The upper reinforcing rim 17 about the wrench socket 11 serves similarlyto prevent fracture at the corners of the square wrench socket 11 andalso serves to provide an annular pocket 16 for receiving metal whichmay be upset from the walls of the wrench socket 11 by the poundingaction of power impact wrenches.

It has been found that the radial width of the reinforcing rim should besubstantially equal to its axial depth so as to provide a rim having asubstantially square cross section as indicated by the heavycross-hatching in Fig. 4.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described andillustrated herein, it is desired to be understood that the same may bevaried, within the scope of the appended claim, without departing fromthe function of the invention.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed and desired securedby Letters Patent is:

A socket member for a socket wrench comprising: a barrel having an openextremity; a polygonal work-receiving socket formed on the inner surfaceof the barrel about an axis coextensive with the geometrical axis of thebarrel; an annular integral rim extending beyond the open terminus ofthe socket, said rim having an internal radius greater than the maximumradius of the socket at the corners thereof, said socket terminating ina continuous shoulder formed between the open extremity thereof and theinterior annular surface of said rim; a polygonal wrench-receivingsocket formed at the barrel extremity opposite to the work-receivingsocket; and an annular integral rim extending beyond the open terminusof said wrench-receiving socket, said last-mentioned rim having aninternal radius greater than the maximum radius of said wrench-receivingsocket at the corners thereof, there being a continuous shoulder formedbetween the mouth of said wrench-receiving socket and the internalannular urface of the adjacent rim.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,442,123 Brown Jan. 16, 1923 1,584,208 Bellows May 11, 1926 1,635,102Watson July 5, 1927 1,832,185 Cochrane Nov. 17, 1931 2,202,240 TrotterMay 28, 1940 2,623,418 Vaughan Dec. 30, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 992,637France July 11, 1951

